Honda Ape experiences and upgrades

The first thing you notice about the bike is its diminutive stance, bigger that a monkey bike but a lot smaller that other learner legal bikes in its class, however I am over 6 feet tall and can ride it without any discomfort.

The engine does not feel very powerful and compared to a modern 125cc bike it really is quite sluggish with a really buzzy high revving feel. 55 mph is about the maximum speed, but despite being high revving it feels like it could maintain this all day long. The five speed box has close ratios, so it is easy to use the gearbox to keep the engine spinning and maintain your speed up hills. I achieved around 100 mpg on average so a very economical ride indeed.

There is no battery as standard, but the lights, indicators, and horn work very well, the downside to this system is no neutral light or indeed any lights at all when the engine is not running, if you were to break down on an unlit road at night this may be a hindrance.

Since owning the bike I have fitted a stainless steel performance exhaust and a larger capacity cylinder kit making it now 120cc. This has resulted in a really useful increase in power and as a result I have been able to increase the front sprocket size by 2 teeth which has raised the top speed to around 60 mph while keeping the relatively brisk acceleration that the smaller front sprocket afforded. 

I read a lot about the larger bore cylinder kit before buying one and everyone who had one said it was great and worth fitting, I totally agree. My next modification is likely to be a slightly larger carburetor and a free flowing air filter as the stock carburetor is tiny and I feel it may be strangling the engine at higher revs.

Two things I really dislike about the bike, one is the rock hard seat. After 30 minutes of riding the numbness sets in leading to great discomfort on longer trips. The other thing is the choke is operated by your right hand which means you have to let go of the throttle to adjust it. A cable operated affair operated by your left thumb would be much better in my opinion.

All in all a great little bike fun to ride nice to own. It attracts attention at bike shows due to its rarity and quirkiness which is probably what attracted me to it in the first place.
Am I still in love with it a year on? Yes I am!